Method and means for filling natural casing sausages

ABSTRACT

A method of filling a natural hollow elongated casing with meat emulsion involves placing a natural casing on an elongated meat emulsion stuffing tube having a meat emulsion discharge end, closing an extended end of the natural casing over the discharge end of the stuffing tube so that meat emulsion exiting the discharge end will push the natural casing longitudinally by pumping meat emulsion through the stuffing tube for expansive discharge into the natural casing at a sufficient volume and velocity to provide the primary energy within the natural casing to move the natural casing forwardly off of the discharge end of the stuffing tube. The casing is extended through a hollow chuck ( 100 ). A resilient brake element ( 160 ) in the chuck is extended around the casing to impede its longitudinal movement. A thrust collar ( 200 ) is slidably mounted on the stuffing tube and is intermittently manually pushed against the casing to limit the length thereof but is insufficient to create compression pressure thereon. An apparatus for filling a natural casing has a thrust collar on the stuffing horn ( 16 ) for pushing the natural casing longitudinally, and a casing hopper ( 46 ) that can be pivoted from a forward operating position to a rearward inoperative position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Sausages have been traditionally made by filling the natural intestinesof sheep, for example, with the sausage meat product whereupon thefilled natural casing was formed into links for cooking by the consumer.In more modern times, sausages are predominantly made by introducing ameat emulsion into an artificial casing which encased the sausagematerial through linking and preliminary cooking whereupon the casingsare peeled from the sausage before being sold to the consumer. Machinesfor making sausages with artificial casings have a high volumecapability (up to 30,000 sausages per hour). Efforts have been made touse these high speed machines with natural casings. However, because ofthe nature of the natural casings including their relatively shorterlength and non-uniform diameter, modern sausage encasing machines havenot achieved the volume and capacity with natural casings as they dowith artificial casings.

It is therefore a principal object of this invention to provide a methodand machine for filling natural casings which is economical, relativelyfast, and easy to accomplish as compared to previous ways of fillingnatural casings.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a method and amachine for filling natural casings wherein the meat pressure expandsthe natural casing and pushes the casing forward as the meat emulsiondischarges from a conventional hollow stuffing horn.

A further object of this invention is to provide a machine and methodfor filling a natural casing wherein the filled casing passes through ahollow chuck with a resilient brake therein which impedes the movementof the casing from the stuffer tube and wherein the resilient brakecreates a balance between the meat pushing forward on the casing and thebrake holding back on the casing, all to create the desired fill orplumpness of the resulting sausage.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a flexible orresilient brake in a hollow chuck through which the filled casing movesin a rotatable twisting head which not only produces a longitudinal dragon the casing to resist forward motion thereof, but also provides aradial rotating course which helps to rotate the casing and thereuponfacilitate twisting thereof as the filled sausage casing moves throughthe linking chains.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a follower orthrust collar on the stuffing tube upstream of the natural casing whichis manually and intermittently pushed against the back side of thenatural casing which provides a light force to prevent the naturalcasing from sticking to the tube but does not serve to move the naturalcasing from the tube, for this is accomplished by the momentum of themeat emulsion filling the casing. This force is insufficient to causesqueezing pressure between the follower and the twisting head.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a method andmachine which will permit easy conversion of the machine from thenatural casing operation to the artificial casing operation.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a casing clamp andcasing hopper on a sausage making machine which can be moved away fromthe casing filling station at times to accommodate the natural casingmode for the machine.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a method andapparatus for filling a natural casing which has the ability to changethe stuffing tube from a full stroke as with artificial casings to apartial stroke for use with natural casings.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a method andmachine for filling natural casings which has a thrust collar that canbe manually controlled by the operator, or an automatic follower whichwill duplicate the manual operation by providing a series ofintermittent push and release actions to move the unshirred casingforward.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a method andmachine to fill natural casings wherein water is present at variousstages of the operation to keep the natural casing from becomingdehydrated and to maintain its very soft, pliable and slipperycharacter.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a method andmachine for filling natural casings which utilizes a cooling turban as apart of the rotating twister.

These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A method of filling a natural hollow elongated casing with meat emulsioninvolves placing a natural casing on an elongated meat emulsion stuffingtube having a meat emulsion discharge end, closing an extended end ofthe natural casing over the discharge end of the stuffing tube so thatmeat emulsion exiting the discharge end will push the natural casinglongitudinally by pumping meat emulsion through the stuffing tube forexpansive discharge into the natural casing at a sufficient volume andvelocity to provide the primary energy within the natural casing to movethe natural casing forwardly off of the discharge end of the stuffingtube. The casing is extended through a hollow chuck. A resilient brakeelement in the chuck is extended around the casing to impede itslongitudinal movement. A thrust collar is slidably mounted on thestuffing tube and is intermittently manually pushed against the casingto limit the length thereof but is insufficient to create compressionpressure thereon.

An apparatus for filling meat emulsion into an elongated natural orartificial casing has (a) a casing filling station including a stuffingtube for supporting a casing to be filled with meat emulsion, (b) acasing hopper to serve as a reservoir for a plurality of shirredartificial casings mounted on the machine adjacent the casing fillingstation for delivery of shirred artificial casings for mounting on thestuffing tube, and (c) means on the machine for moving the casing hopperaway from its position adjacent the casing filling station when naturalcasings are placed on a stuffing tube in the casing filling station.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a prior art sausage encasing machinewhich shows the general relationship of the major components of thesausage making machine of this invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged scale perspective view of the prior art machine ofFIG. 1 taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 2A and 2B show the casing hopper of FIG. 2 in forward and rearwardpositions, respectively;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged scale perspective view of the machine of FIG. 2using conventional shirred casings;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are enlarged scale perspective views of the conventionalcomponents of a sausage encasing machine after the natural casing isplaced on the stuffing horn;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged scale sectional view of the chuck; and

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 5 during the casing filling process.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A sausage encasing machine 10 (FIG. 1) has a frame 12, and aconventional meat emulsion pump 14 connected to a source of meatemulsion. A stuffing horn 16 is slidably and operably connected to thepump 14 and is longitudinally moveable by air piston 17 contained inhousing 18 (FIG. 1). A follower rod 20 is also slidably mounted on thepump 14 parallel to horn 16 and has an actuator 22 on one end slidablymounted on horn 16. Follower rod 20 is powered by air piston 24 locatedin housing 18. An elongated shirred sausage casing 26 is convention-allymounted on horn 16. The forward end of horn 16 conventionally terminatesat casing filling station 27 (FIG. 3) adjacent twister housing 28 whichhas a hollow rotatable chuck 29 which receives a meat filled casing 26and rotates it before the meat filled casing moves into conventionallinker 30. (FIGS. 4, 5). The chains 31 of linker 30 are rotated by amotor 34 through suitable shafts, gears or belts. The conventional chuck120 (FIGS. 4, 5) in housing 28 is rotated by a motor (not shown) throughsuitable shafts and gears. Linker 30 is positioned within housing 36(FIG. 1). The foregoing components are all conventional and are wellknown in the art, (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,115,668) and are controlled bycomputer control 38 (FIG. 1).

The completed strand of sausages 40 exits the machine 10 through horn 42and the strand is deposited on the chain of hooks of conventionalconveyor 44 (FIG. 1).

A casing hopper 46 has tapered sidewalls 48 and a sloping bottom 50(FIG. 2) which cause shirred casings 26 therein to migrate downwardlytowards a bottom opening 52. Hopper 46 is pivoted at 54 (FIG. 2) to anyconvenient side supports 56. It is also mounted on plate 58 which ispivotally mounted on plate 60 on a vertical axis of pin 61 to be rotatedfrom the forward aperture position of FIG. 2A for filling shirredcasings to an inoperative rearward position of FIG. 2B when not in use.A removable lock pin 62 extends between plates 58 and 60 to selectivelylock hopper 46 in a forward or rearward position. A PLC 66 is mounted onmachine 10 to program and coordinate the components of the machine. ThePLC will control the pump 14, the rotation and longitudinal movement ofhorn 16, the position of hopper 46, and the operation of chuck 120,linker 30 and conveyor 44. A sensor or stop 67 (FIGS. 3-5) adjacent thetwister 28 will cause the functions at the filling station 27 to ceasewhen the casing 220 is filled.

A rotatable chuck 100 (FIGS. 5 and 6) has a cylindrical body portion 120with a longitudinal center bore 140. A resilient brake element 160 isdeposed within the center portion of bore 140. The brake 160 has acenter bore 180 through which the stuffing horn 16 extends with anatural casing 220 thereon. The brake 160 provides a longitudinal dragon the natural casing as described heretofore. The location of the brake160 in the chuck 100 can vary from one end to the other. It can beintegral with the cylindrical housing 120, or can be of a separatematerial that is affixed in any convenient manner to the interior centerbore of the chuck. The friction applied to the natural casing by thebrake 160 merely impedes the free flow of the natural casing from thesurface of the stuffing tube, but is insufficient to prevent themovement of the natural casing from the stuffing tube provided by theenergy of the meat emulsion discharged from the stuffing tube into theinterior of the natural casing.

When it is desired to change the machine 10 from filling conventionalshirred casings to the filling of natural casings, the lock pin 62 isreleased and the hopper 46 is rotated about pin 61 from the forwardposition of FIG. 2B to the inoperative position of FIG. 2A so that it isout of the way for the process of filling natural casings. The thrustcollar 200 is slidably mounted on the stuffing tube 16 (FIGS. 3 and 4)behind the natural casing 220. The collar 200 is intermittently manuallyor automatically pushed against the casing insufficiently to createsqueezing or compression pressure thereon but to facilitate the normalforward movement of the casing on the stuffing tube beyond the normalmovement of the casing caused by the energy of the emulsion entering thecasing. The longitudinal displacement of tube 16 is typically shortenedby the PLC 66 when natural casings are being filled. The hopper 46 canbe mechanically lifted, hinged, or moved by sliding to move out of theway to facilitate the process for filling the natural casings.

It is therefore seen that this machine will achieve at least all of itsstated objectives.

1. A method for filling a natural hollow elongated casing with a meatemulsion, comprising, placing a natural casing on an elongated meatemulsion stuffing tube having a meat emulsion discharge end, closing anextended end of the natural casing over the discharge end of thestuffing tube so that meat emulsion exiting the discharge end will pushthe natural casing longitudinally by pumping meat emulsion through thestuffing tube for expansive discharge into the natural casing at asufficient volume and velocity to provide the primary energy within thenatural casing to move the natural casing forwardly off of the dischargeend of the stuffing tube, slidably mounting a thrust collar on thestuffing tube behind the natural casing, and intermittently pushing thethrust collar against the casing insufficiently to create squeezing orcompression pressure thereon but to facilitate the normal forwardmovement of the casing on the stuffing tube beyond the normal movementof the casing caused by the energy of the emulsion entering the casing.2. The method of claim 1 wherein water is applied to the natural casingbefore placing the casing on the stuffing tube to make the casinghydrated, soft, pliable and slippery to prevent adhesion of the casingto the stuffing tube.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the forward endof the stuffing tube extends through a hollow chuck, placing a resilientbrake element in the chuck around the stuffing tube to yieldingly engagethe natural casing to impede the longitudinal movement of the naturalcasing on the stuffing tube.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein arotatable linking assembly is located downstream of the discharge end ofthe stuffing tube to link the natural casing filled with the meatemulsion and to impede the longitudinal movement of natural casing fromthe stuffing tube.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein a meat pump isemployed to pump meat emulsion through the stuffing tube, wherein theforward end of the stuffing tube extends through a hollow chuck, placinga resilient brake element in the chuck around the stuffing tube toyielding engage the natural casing to impede the longitudinal movementof the natural casing on the stuffing tube, wherein a rotatable linkingassembly is located downstream of the discharge end of the stuffing tubeto link the natural casing filled with the meat emulsion and to impedethe longitudinal movement of natural casing from the stuffing tube. 6.The method of claim 1 wherein the thrust collar is intermittentlymanually pushed against the casing.
 7. A sausage machine for fillingnatural casings which has a meat stuffing horn for receiving a hollownatural casing with a thrust collar slidably mounted on the stuffingtube for pushing a natural casing longitudinally on the stuffing tube.8. A method for filling a natural hollow elongated casing with a meatemulsion, comprising, placing a natural casing on an elongated meatemulsion stuffing tube having a meat emulsion discharge end, closing anextended end of the natural casing over the discharge end of thestuffing tube so that meat emulsion exiting the discharge end will pushthe natural casing longitudinally by pumping meat emulsion through thestuffing tube for expansive discharge into the natural casing at asufficient volume and velocity to provide the primary energy within thenatural casing to move the natural casing forwardly off of the dischargeend of the stuffing tube, wherein the forward end of the stuffing tubeextends through a hollow chuck, and placing a resilient brake element inthe chuck around the stuffing tube to yieldingly engage the naturalcasing to impede the longitudinal movement of the natural casing on thestuffing tube.
 9. The method of claim 8 wherein a thrust collar isslidably mounted on the stuffing tube behind the natural casing,intermittently pushing the thrust collar against the casinginsufficiently to create squeezing or compression pressure thereon butto facilitate the normal forward movement of the casing on the stuffingtube beyond the normal movement of the casing caused by the energy ofthe emulsion entering the casing.
 10. A machine for filling meatemulsion into elongated natural or artificial casings, comprising, acasing filling station including a stuffing tube for supporting a casingto be filled with meat emulsion, a casing hopper to serve as a reservoirfor a plurality of shirred artificial casings mounted on the machineadjacent the casing filling station for delivery of shirred artificialcasings for mounting on the stuffing tube, means on the machine formoving the casing hopper away from its position adjacent the casingfilling station when natural casings are placed on a stuffing tube inthe casing filling station, wherein the forward end of the stuffing tubeextends through a hollow chuck, and a resilient brake element in thechuck around the stuffing tube to yieldingly engage the natural casingto impede the longitudinal movement of the natural casing on thestuffing tube.
 11. A machine for filling meat emulsion into elongatednatural or artificial casings, comprising, a casing filling stationincluding a stuffing tube for supporting a casing to be filled with meatemulsion, a casing hopper to serve as a reservoir for a plurality ofshirred artificial casings mounted on the machine adjacent the casingfilling station for delivery of shirred artificial casings for mountingon the stuffing tube, means on the machine for moving the casing hopperaway from its position adjacent the casing filling station when naturalcasings are placed on a stuffing tube in the casing filling station, anda thrust collar slidably mounted on the stuffing tube behind the naturalcasing for intermittent pushing against the casing insufficiently tocreate squeezing or compression pressure thereon but to facilitate thenormal forward movement of the casing on the stuffing tube beyond thenormal movement of the casing caused by the energy of the emulsionentering the casing.